For the year 2021-22, the government has given Police and Crime Commissioners the flexibility to increase the police precept of council tax, up to a maximum of £15 per year (based on Band D properties), which is a 7.1% increase of the current amount of £0. Residents in Hampshire have been asked whether they would support the increase to help local policing.
Following a survey in 2020, 58% of residents in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are in favour of the increase in council tax to support policing in the county.
With this extra funding, the county’s police service would be able to achieve:
- 50 new police officers, in addition to the 156 officers provided through national allocation
- targeted operational policing to take drugs and weapons off Hampshire’s streets
- increased work on preventing young and vulnerable people getting into criminal activity
- increased forensics capacity
- investment in police officer wellbeing
In a statement, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, PCC Michael Lane, who is also up for election in May, said:
Keeping you all safer is clearly important and has been a priority for me over the last four years.
Keeping you safer is partly funded through your local council tax.
For the policing element of the council tax next year there are some options I am considering during these difficult and exceptional times.
I need your support and your voice to inform my decisions which need to be made early next year.
I would like your views on the level of increase in the policing element of the council tax 2021-22.
The Government has given me flexibility to increase the policing precept by up to a maximum of £15 per year (based on Band D*).
In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight 68% of households will pay less than this.
A significant number of local residents have already told me they would support an increase in council tax to maintain police services.
PCC Michael Lane
You can register your view on the council tax increase at the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner website.
